Boot drier



March29, 1949. s. c. ELLIOTT BOOT DRIER Filed April 24, 1946 4 INVENTOR, 5AM C. ELLIOTT ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 29, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOOT DRIER Sam C. Elliott, Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Application April 24, 1948, Serial No. 664,658

4 Claims. 1

Th s. ipven en r l s o o d Although the invention may be used to advantage to dry boots for persons in various occunations. it s, mor pa t cu ar y int nded for the; Qi sportsmen and travelers who need a portable compact device which can be used to their boots whenever they happen to become wet. by reason of wading too deeply through water, or because of having been exposed to rainy weather.

A f urther object of the invention is to provide a boot drier which is well adapted for havin heat, supplied to, it by means of electric lamps.

More specifically speaking, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved set of bootesupporting tubular members which are com.- pactly housed within'a portable chest, and which may quickly and conveniently be removed from, and then mounted upon, said chest in a boot.- supporting position wherein they direct the heat in an advantageous manner to the interior surfaces of the boot supported upon them to be dried.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus in its operative position, parts within the casing being indicated by dotted lines, while broken lines indicate the outlines of a pair of boots mounted in the position for being dried.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the casing containingthe boot-drying elements.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

4 is a section on line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section showing a fragment of the basal portion oi one of the tubular boot-supporting members, the plane of section being indicated by line 55 on Fig. 6.

B s. 6: is. a... lan iew t the str c e. ow

7 is an approximate elevation showing somewhat i pers ecti e the pp r ber of ne Q th boo uppo n tubes. the central or i n o the, be. bei br ken. away in rde o. o tract th len t of he iew.

8 is. an a prox mate. ele ng somewhat in perspective an intermediate member of the boot-supporting tubes, the central portion being broken away in order to contract the length of the view.

Referring in detail to the drawing, a portable box or chest it is provided, having one end wall H swingably fastened to the top wall l2 by means of hinges 13, thus providing a spacious door opening and door therefor. As best shown in Fig. 3, within said box are demountably sup; ported four stove-pipe-like tubes I 4 of the intermediate type (see Fig. 1), two Ma, of the basal type, and two I ib of the top or upper t r n pe. paired. spring rm m ns car ried by the box ii) to hold all of said tubes (eight in number)v in their stored demountable condition Within the box it}. The paired arcuate spring arms l5 are arranged in each pair with the concave sides of the arms directed toward each other and so positioned as to receive between them the pipe joints when the latter are, i er ed thr h th oor openi g i l QIlQWiSQ manner.

The box it] is provided, in an endwise relation to the aforesaid mounted tubes, with the already mentioned hinged door i l which completely overlies one end of the box, it so that when said door is fully open any of the contained tubes can be readily removed. Said door has in its free, lower edge a notch iii to accommodate the electric supply cord ll (carrying plug-in terminal Ha) of the heater H8 (in this case an electric lamp) secured centrally to the inner side of that end, of the box that is opposite to said door II, the pipe-joint supporting arms 15 being so arranged as to leave the latter end portion of the quadrilateral box IE! unobstructed.

In each set of the assembled tubes. shown in Fig. 1, the lowest tube Ma isvprovided at its lower end (see Fig. 8) with outwardly directed diametrically opposite locking ears 2!! to under-- lie and interlock with an annular locking plate 2i fastened in a countersunk manner to the rather thick top wall IQ of the box ID, in register with each circular air vent opening 22. The diameter of said opening 22 is slightly less than the internal diameter oi said annulus 2!, a supporting ledge 23 being thus provided for the four-joint foot-supporting tube. Between said ledge and annulus results an annular recess 25,

the aioresaid pipe ears 20 being insertable into said recess through diametrically opposite in!- terior notches 26, in said annulus sufficiently large to admit said cars 20 preparatory to the ear-carrying pipe section Ma being turned to a locked-on relation as indicated by the dotted line position of the ears 2!! shown in Fig. 6.

Each four-joint boot-supporting tube has each of its joints except its uppermost joint Mb formed with a crimped, slightly tapered upper end portion Mo to telescope in a stove-pipe fashion into the next joint above. The upper part of the top joint Mb is not crimped or tapered but is provided with means 30 for interiorly supporting a boot in a spaced, air-circulating relation to the entire tubular structure upon which the boot is mounted. Said means 30 is shown as a bail with the end portions of its arms pivoted at 3| to the upper pipe section in a downwardly spaced relation to its upper end, thus leaving room for the longitudinal side grooves 32 consisting of inward deflections of the sheet metal forming said pipe section into which the arms of said bail sprin yieldingly to hold the bail in its upswung, boot-supporting position. The downswung position of the bail. ind cated in dotted lines in Fig. '7, renders the pipe section [4b shorter for storing in the box Ill.

The portab e box I is sho n provided in the center of its top side with a foldable handle 35. so that it may be conveniently carried by the user. The swingable door ll carr es near its lower edge an internal catch member 36 which yieldingly interlocks with a stationary catch. element 31 when the door is closed.

In preparing the device for use the operator will first withdraw the pipe joint sections 14a from the box and, after placing said joints in their upright locked-on position, will telescope onto them the intermediate joints M, M, and then will add the uppermost joints [4b and then upswing the spacer loops or bails 30. The pair of boots 39 to be dried may then be put in place as shown, when it only remains to plug in the electric terminal connection 110. into a current supply fixture. The door notch 16 admits air to replace the r sing heated air, but if desired the door may be held partly open by any suitable means.

The two tubular boot-supporting tubular structures should have external diameters considerably less than the internal diameters of the leg portions of the boots to be dried, so that the drying air will pass down along the interior surfaces of said leg portions of the boots, which are supported with their lower (normally upper) ends spaced somewhat above the top of the box It).

I claim:

1. In a boot drier, a tubular stove-pipe-like member of rigid sheet material having a swingable resilient bail-like boot rest attached to one of its end portions, said member having diametrically opposite recesses in its body portion positioned yieldingly to hold said ball at times in an outswung boot-supporting position, and means to support said member in a substantially vertical position with its bail-carrying end uppermost, said recesses consisting of inward deflections of the tubular sheet material.

2. In a boot drier, a quadrilateral box having a door opening occupying the greater part of one of the rectangular sides of the box, a plurality of boot-supporting tubes demountably supportable upon said box in upstanding positions and in communication with the interior thereof, said tubes each consisting of disconnectible stove-pipe-like joints which when disconnected from each other are insrtable through said door opening for storage within said box, an assembly of arcuate mounting arms for said pipe joints, said arms being attached interiorly to said box in pairs consisting of two adjacent arms with their concave sides directed toward each other and positioned to receive between them and support the pipe joints when the latter are inserted individually through the door opening in an endwise manner, said paired arms with said tubes mounted therein leaving an unobstructed space in the inner side of the box opposite to said door opening, and an electric lamp mounted inside the box upon said inner side thereof in said unobstructed space.

3. In a boot drier, a set of stove-pipe-like tubes of rigid sheet material, a box having within it means for so supporting said set of tubes that they are manually demountable and removable from said box, a rather thick like pipe-support wall carried by the upper portion of said box, said wall having through it an aperture communicating with the interior of the box, an annular locking plate fastened in a countersunk manner to said pipe-support wall in register with said aperture, said set of tubes being connectible in the fashion of stove pipe joints superjacent to said locking plate and in an interlocking relation therewith, means carried by the free end of the lowermost of said tubes of a so connected set to interlock with said top wall in registration with the aperture of the latter, said means comprising diametrically opposite locking ears carried by said lowermost tube at its lower end to underlie and interlock with said annular locking plate, the diameter of said aperture being slightly less than the internal diameter of said annular locking plate, thereby providing a supporting ledge for said set of tubes, there being an annular recess resulting between said ledge and annular plate and diametrically opposite interior notches in said annular locking plate sufiiciently large to admit said ears preparatory to the ear-carrying tube being turned to a locked-on position within said annular recess, and mounting means for a boot carried by the free end of the uppermost tube of said set to support the boot in a spaced air circulatory relation to said set of tubes.

4. The subject matter of claim 2 and, said mounting means comprising a swingable resilient bail-like boot rest attached to the upper end of said uppermost tube, the latter tube having diametrically opposite recesses in its body portion positioned yieldingly to hold said bail at times in an upswung boot-supporting position, said recesses consisting of inward deflections of the tubes sheet material, and an air heater mounted within said box.

SAM C. ELLIOTT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 426,111 Coffin Apr. 22, 1890 686,314 Mansfield Nov. 12, 1901 1,223,161 Fazzini Apr. 17, 1917 1,499,957 Turner July 1, 1924 1,522,107 Deming Jan. 6, 1925 1,712,022 Berg May 7, 1929 2,100,639 Doolittle et al Nov. 30, 1937 2,144,661 Nelson Jan. 24, 1939 

